A.

Michelle Wynn
Spring 2019 - FRIT 7236
Technology-Based Assessment and Data Analysis
Key Assessment

Multiple Choice
Grade 4 - Science
S4E2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to model the effects of the
position and motion of the Earth and the moon in relation to the sun as observed from
the Earth. b. Develop a model based on observations to describe the repeating pattern
of the phases of the moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full).

Objective 1: Given an image of a lunar phase, students will be able to correctly identify
the phase. (1A Remember Factual Knowledge)
Question 1: What is the current phase of the moon in the image below?

A. Full Moon
B. New Moon
C. Crescent Moon
D. Gibbous Moon*

Objective 2: Students will be able to recognize observable patterns based on the

different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day, month, and
year. (1A Remember Factual Knowledge)
Question 2: What motion causes the 4 seasons that we experience here on Earth?
A. The Earth’s revolution around the Sun*
B. The Earth’s rotation
C. The Moon’s revolution around the Earth
D. The Moon’s rotation

Objective 3: Students will understand why we see the different phases of the moon. (1A
Remember Factual Knowledge)
Question 3: Which sentence explains why we see the phases of the moon?
A. The Moon is a large planet.
B. The Moon revolves around Earth.*
C. The Moon is covered with many craters
D. The Moon revolves around the Sun.

Assessment Plan
● Improving Item Reliability- Reliability is the degree to which students’ results
remain consistent over replications of an assessment procedure (Nitko &
Brookhart, 2015)
○ I think that my assessment items are reliable because they are simple and
direct questions. I tried to make them as clear and concise as possible.
For example, I intentionally left out the terms waning and waxing to make
the first question easier to understand. If I wanted to get more specific I
could have added them but I didn’t want to make the question confusing. I
could check the reliability of my questions by having a group of student
answer the question to see if the majority of them picked the same answer
choice. After getting this data I would also need to make sure that the
questions were not poorly written by containing superficial or trivial data.
Questions should be written in a way that causes students to use their
knowledge in a meaningful and authentic context.

● Improving Item Validity - Validity is the soundness of your interpretations and

uses of students’ assessment results (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).
○ I think that my assessment items are valid because each item matches the
learning objective. A valid use of these assessment results would be to
use student data to see how well students remembered the concepts
taught. It would not be valid, for example, to assume that students who
can answer all three questions can create a 3D model demonstrating the
motion of the earth and moon in relation to the sun.

● Differentiation of Instruction - Differentiated instruction refers to the instructional

practices that are altered to meet the needs, abilities, interests, and motivations
of students (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).
○ If I wanted to differentiate instruction using these questions, I would take
into account the learning disability that the students I teach may have. I
could have the questions read aloud, provided on a bigger screen or
 larger font, offer an incentive for doing their best, bold/highlight important
words, or modify the questions by removing one of the answer choices.

● Improving Student Learning

○ To improve student learning I would look at the data as soon as students
finish the assessment. I would check for any data that may flag a validity
or reliability issue. If I had a particular question that a majority of students
picked the same incorrect answer I would know that either the question
had an issue or there was a major misconception that needed to be
retaught. If I saw that students understood this basic knowledge as
demonstrated by high scores on the multiple choice assessment, then I
would know that it was time to move to activities that demonstrate higher
levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

● Improving Future Assessments

○ Any data that I obtained from conducting the assessment would be used
to check for validity and reliability. If I receive any indication that an item is
not valid or reliable, I would make changes to improve the item. I could
also collaborate with others to get additional points of view on ways that
assessment can be improved.

Essay
Grade 4 - Science
S4E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to demonstrate the water cycle.
a. Plan and carry out investigations to observe the flow of energy in water as it changes
states from solid (ice) to liquid (water) to gas (water vapor) and changes from gas to
liquid to solid.
b. Develop models to illustrate multiple pathways water may take during the water cycle
(evaporation, condensation, and precipitation).

Objective 1: Students will describe the role of weather on the water cycle.
Short Answer: How does the sun affect water on Earth? (Understand Factual)
Essay: How do you think the water cycle affects Earth’s weather? What would happen
to our planet if the water cycle stopped? (Understand Conceptual)

Objective 2: Students will demonstrate that water may take different pathways as it
travels throughout the water cycle.
Short Answer: What controls whether water is a solid, liquid, or gas? (Understand
Factual)
Essay: Provide three examples of what can happen to a drop of water as it falls as rain
towards the ground.(Understand Conceptual)

Objective 3: Students will explain the major components needed for the water cycle.
Short Answer: What powers the water cycle? (Understand Factual)
Essay: Pretend that you are a tiny water droplet. Describe your adventures as you
travel through the water cycle. (Understand Conceptual)

Assessment Plan

These assessment items can be given at the end of a unit over the water cycle.
● Improving Item Reliability- Reliability is the degree to which students’ results
remain consistent over replications of an assessment procedure (Nitko &
Brookhart, 2015)
○ The textbook also tells us that a disadvantage of essay questions is poor
scoring reliability. Different teachers may award different scores to the
same essay. A good rubric can help with this issue so that guidelines for
scoring are clearly defined. Professional development would also help so
that teachers know best practices for scoring essay questions. Make sure
that all questions are written as clearly as possible.

● Improving Item Validity - Validity is the soundness of your interpretations and

uses of students’ assessment results (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).
○ If a high quality rubric is used to score and the educators are
knowledgeable about scoring essay questions then the item’s validity will
improve as well. Essay questions take longer to grade accurately so the
textbook states that they should only be used when “ they are the most
valid form of assessment for a learning objective and are worth the time
they take to score well” (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).

● Differentiation of Instruction - Differentiated instruction refers to the instructional

practices that are altered to meet the needs, abilities, interests, and motivations
of students (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).
○ Essay and short answer questions can be differentiated by offering a
choice of which question they would like to answer. This allows students
to demonstrate what they know best about the content being assessed.
Speech to text tools can be used for students that physically struggle with
typing. Technology can also direct the focus of writing on the content
instead of grammar and spelling for students who struggle in these areas.
 ● Improving Student Learning
○ To improve student learning I would look at the data as soon as students
finish the assessment. The writing process should be taught and students
should be shown plenty of examples of what good writing looks like.
Quality feedback should be provided in a timely manner so that students
can learn from any errors that were made.

● Improving Future Assessments

○ Each item and its response should be reviewed after students have tested
to check for validity and reliability. Common misconceptions should be
addressed and questions that are determined to be confusing should be
rewritten or replaced. The scoring process and rubric should be examined
for inconsistencies and updated accordingly to make the scoring as fair
and unbiased as possible.

HOTS
Grade 4 - Science
S4E2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to model the effects of the
position and motion of the Earth and the moon in relation to the sun as observed from
the Earth.
a. Develop a model to support an explanation of why the length of day and night
change throughout the year.
b. Develop a model based on observations to describe the repeating pattern of the
phases of the moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full).
c. Construct an explanation of how the Earth’s orbit, with its consistent tilt, affects
seasonal changes.

Objective: Students will be able to explain the significance of observable patterns

based on the different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day,
month, and year.

HOTS:

1. What would happen if the earth did not rotate but still revolved around the
sun?(Evaluate Conceptual Knowledge)

2. Do countries near the north and south poles on Earth undergo changes in
seasons? Explain why or why not. (Evaluate Factual Knowledge)
 3. Assuming that we are looking at the night sky from the northern hemisphere,
what season would we be in based on the image below? How do you know?
(Analyze Factual Knowledge)

Assessment Plan:

These assessment items can be given at the end of the unit over the motion of the
Earth and Moon..
● Improving Item Reliability- Reliability is the degree to which students’ results
remain consistent over replications of an assessment procedure (Nitko &
Brookhart, 2015)
○ After students complete the questions, I would need to review the
answers to see if most of the students had the same understanding of the
information. I would want to see that I had communicated the questions
clearly. If any items were found to be unreliable, I would make sure to
reword or clarify the items before using them again. A good
rubric/checklist is important for making sure that the assessment items are
scored fairly. This will also maintain consistency between raters.

● Improving Item Validity - Validity is the soundness of your interpretations and

uses of students’ assessment results (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).
○ To improve validity I would make sure that a good quality rubric was
created for each assessment item and was used correctly to score.
Student assessment results would be used only to reflect the students
knowledge on the topic the question covered.
 ● Differentiation of Instruction - Differentiated instruction refers to the instructional
practices that are altered to meet the needs, abilities, interests, and motivations
of students (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).
○ These questions can be differentiated for students by highlighting key
words. Students that need more help could also be provided with
resources that they could read or watch that would point them in the right
direction. Questions could also be broken down into smaller questions
that would lead them to how to answer the question.

● Improving Student Learning

○ To improve student learning I would look at the data as soon as students
finish the assessment. Quality feedback should be provided in a timely
manner so that students can learn from any errors that were made. If a
large number of students missed the same question, I would know that
this concept would need to be retaught. When reteaching, I would
examine the teaching methods I used and determine if there was a better
way to teach this concept to the students.

● Improving Future Assessments

○ Each item and its response should be reviewed after students have tested
to check for validity and reliability. Common misconceptions should be
addressed and questions that are determined to be confusing should be
rewritten or replaced. The scoring process and rubric should be examined
for inconsistencies and updated accordingly to make the scoring as fair
and unbiased as possible. I would need to be constantly evaluating my
teaching methods to see if what I did was successful or wether I need to
teach it a different way, next time.

Performance Tasks
Grade 4 - Science
S4E2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to model the effects of the
position and motion of the Earth and the moon in relation to the sun as observed from
the Earth.
a. Develop a model to support an explanation of why the length of day and night
change throughout the year.
b. Develop a model based on observations to describe the repeating pattern of the
phases of the moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full).
c. Construct an explanation of how the Earth’s orbit, with its consistent tilt, affects
seasonal changes.
Objective: Students will be able to demonstrate the significance of observable patterns
based on the different positions of the sun, moon, and stars at different times of the day,
month, and year.

Tasks:
1. Using a model of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, pick a position for these three
celestial bodies and a point on the Earth. Describe the season that this location
is experiencing, the phase of moon that they see, and why. (Evaluate +
Conceptual)
2. Create a travel brochure for the moon. Describe the features of the moon,
temperature, and views that can be found from someone visiting the moon.
(Create + Factual)
3. Imagine that you are an astronomer in a Science Museum. You have a group of
students visiting and your job is to explain what causes the different phases of
the moon. Create a speech/presentation detailing the phases, what they are
called, and why we experience lunar phases on Earth. (Apply + Factual)

Assessment Plan:

These performance tasks can be given at the end of the unit over the motion of the
Earth and Moon.
● Improving Item Reliability- Reliability is the degree to which students’ results
remain consistent over replications of an assessment procedure (Nitko &
Brookhart, 2015)
○ After students complete the projects, I would need to review the
procedures to see if most of the students had the same understanding of
the information. I would want to make sure that my directions were clear
and the rubric was an accurate representation of the product that I wanted
to receive. A good rubric/checklist is important for making sure that the
assessment items are scored fairly. This will also maintain consistency
between raters if the project is used by multiple teachers on a team..

● Improving Item Validity - Validity is the soundness of your interpretations and

uses of students’ assessment results (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).
○ To improve validity I would make sure that a good quality rubric was
created for each project and was used correctly to score. Project results
would be used to reflect the students understanding of the concepts.
● Differentiation of Instruction - Differentiated instruction refers to the instructional
practices that are altered to meet the needs, abilities, interests, and motivations
of students (Nitko & Brookhart, 2015).
○ These projects can be differentiated by providing additional supports for
students who need help. Resources can be provided by the teacher to
point students in the right direction. Exemplars can be provided so that
the students have a sample of what they should be working towards.
Additional time can also be given.

● Improving Student Learning

○ To improve student learning I would look at the data from the group as a
whole to see what stands out. Quality feedback should be provided in a
timely manner so that students can learn from any errors that were made.
Common misconceptions should be corrected throughout the process of
developing the project. Common misunderstandings should be retaught.
When reteaching, I would examine the teaching methods I used and
determine if there was a better way to teach this concept to the students.

● Improving Future Assessments

○ Instructions should be checked to see that they were clear and reworded if
necessary. The rubric or checklist should be examined closely after the
project is completed to make sure that it communicated the goals of the
project or task clearly. The scoring process should be examined and
updated accordingly to make the scoring is as fair and unbiased as
possible. I would need to be constantly evaluating my teaching methods
to see if what I did was successful or whether I need to teach it a different
way, next time.